A SlIUEWU SEXTON. Among Iho. touristy 'who travel through l'Yuiietv a considerable num ber always visit VlKu Cathedral at Kheims, \ a magnificent example of (•otliic architecture. Ju tho tower j /there is,an enormous clock*, aud it is 1 tho soxton's business> to wind it! every day—a very• tiring job, tho. weights lire naturally extremely j heavy. • i : The sexton, - however,* is a very shrewd fellow, v Whenever ho shows! thy trippers this wonderful piecc of I mechanism,- ho remarks : "Lsuiies and I gentlemen, if you do not believe mo • regarding the heaviness of tho clock ■weights, try for yourselves/' ? Kaeli of tho trippers immediately! gives a turn or two to tho wheel, ' and n£ there are some two hun-j dred visitors a day, the trippers un-' consciously and eagerly wind tho clock for him, and in addition (says Maurice Dekobra in the "On looker") give him an extra tip for being allowed to do his work!

A Mile Long Bridge in Twelve Days. Some feats of extraordinary rapid construction have been performed, at times, in the history of American railroading*; but we do not know of anything to surpasft the feat achieved jointly by the Pennsyl vania and Lehigh Valley railroads in the rebuilding. of over - a mile of two-track railroad bridge across ] Newark Bay, which was humeri the nightv of Juno i«lth. The bridge, j 5,663 feet long, included a drawl 236-1 feet long. In the reconstruction j each road built one track, the I.e- j high Valley bridge force starting! from tho west end of the bridge, \ | and the Pennsylvania gangs work- i ing from the opposite end. Tho firo was yefc .in progress when thn I reconstruction was decided upon and and the plans got ready. Orders j were given for fourteen pile drivers, thirteen marine derricks, twenty-one scowls, two tugs,six ca tamarans, five nir compressors, three [ water-bouts, two derrick cars, two j locomotive trains, three switch en I gines, two...

■* The Railway Whistle. - The Leicester.-'.- and SwunningUm i Haiiway, - now owned : by the Mid* land'... Ttalhvny, .. has celebratedits seventieth anniversary. . It;was on this line that . the steam whistle was first used. • i, Ono of the. old "Itockcls" rumbling' ■ ■■■:.along the linoi i run into . a curt on ; a level cross- ' :ing. The cart;was smuslied to bits, I the horse and driver had a narrow escape. The engine-driver had sound- j ed - his horn ; but the sound was j not fierce enough to warn the car-j ter, who, likely enough, after the j fashion of country carters, was -asleep on one of the shafts." George t Stephenson, who lived in the nei&amp;h-j ! bourhood, was appealed -to, and lie j •devised the steam whistle, which j was nt once adopted by, oil the] other lines. - ; . I ' , • w I

Ladies' Column. » This cttectlve Costume should consist of a Coat of Blue and Pink Pompadour Silk and Skirt of Blue Voile. The Coat should have turn over Collar and Cuffs of White Embroidery finished with Black Satin.- Below' the* Draoed Belt of Black Satin the Skirt has a small fitted Peplum, the Skirt beine draped up in a Deep Pleat across the Front, the fulness of the Lower Portion being laid In « Soft Box-plcat at the Front.

Right Way to Eat Pine apples. — 1 JMneapples used to be considered unwholesome, hut in all probability this reputation was gained because they were not eaten in the proper way or were not • ripe enough. .Most people eat pineapples the wrong way. They pare off the coarse, prickly outside skin and throw it away, not knowing that tho skin really contains the best part of tho fruit. - This outside skin contains a largo-proportion of the alkaloid principle, " bromelin," which is the digestive ferment of the pineapple and which is somewhat similar in its medicinal effect to pepsin. - , The correct way to eat a, pine apple, to get the most good from it, is first to, pare ofT the rough outside , skin. Squeeze these par ings in a lemon squeezer and pour their juice; sweetened or not,. as preferred; ; over the pared pineapple when, cut-in slices. In this ; way all the - powerful "brotncHu" is saved, and enhances the flavour of the pineapple itself. - Pineapples should always be eaten .after m...

Mysterious Half-crown. I Two curates, one good-natured, the other of opposite disposition, lived together in a London parish. .The good-natured one met n poor man one day when out for a walk, who asked for monetary assistance. The kind-hearted curate was touched |»y the man's evident distress, and said thai if he could find a coin in Us pocket the poor man should have it. To (he curate's surprise he discover ed~ a half-crown in one of his trou sers pockets, he expected to find only sixpence. However, ho gener ou.sly gave the half-crown to the poor iiiun, and went homo and told his fellow-curate what had hap pened. expressing his. .surprise at tin knowingly possessing ll.e half crown. "You need not ?»e sur prised." remarked -the-stingy curate lugubriously ; "you are wearing my trousers." Celery or parsley rubbed on the hands after peeling onions will counteract the odour. Lemon, bo , rax, or ajnmonia is excellent for ' raoioviug stain* from the hands.

For Nerve Sufferers. t Dr. Edwin .Ash, nuthor of "Ner ves and the Nervous," hns written a little book in which hn dcnls with the effect of ill-considered hustling, so common to-dny. His panacea is the acquisition of the bnbit of self-mastery in the little things of life. Three very import ant energy wasters are : Indigest ible nnd hurried lunchcs, too tight clothing, . needless worrying about details of domestic, professional, nnd business life. Br. Ash says inure must bo spent in eating, nnd loss meat eaten. Ho adds : " You should not lie in bed after you , wake in the morning, and you should not indulge in nnps. There is this ! to be said in favour of trS; early j cup of tea—that when it forms thc.i awakening signal the mere act of drinking it is likely to rouse the j mental nnd physical activities and prevent the desire for further slum ber." Ilere are Dr. Ash's general rules for living up to our true value in energy production : Wenr reasonably loose clothing, spend at least one...

Winged Slaves of China. (By liAHHETT i\ SKUVISS.) The story of the -fishing birds of China throws light on J>oth natural history and human nature. These birds are cormorants, which, by na ture, are great fishers, for fish nro their favourite food. Alt went well with the cormorants of China,, and they conducted their piscatorial operations in peace, aud for their own sole advantage, until, to their misfortune, the idea occurred to the human inhabitants of the i land of Confucius, who arc not | lacking in many small ingenuities 'or in a certain broad philosophy | of life that it would be n good [ thing to make the cormorants fish for them. I-Yoiu that moment the cormorant became a slate ami joined the great army of sen's, including horses, mules, donkeys and other easily sub jected creatures, with which man has surrounded himself for bis pleasure and convenience. The cormorant no longer fishes for himself, he fishes for a master, who has more brums than he. and who lets him eat jus...

Gas in the Cavities of Trees. Professor J. A. Ferguson, of the Pennsylvania State College,: re ports a curious phenomenon connect ed with, the cutting of hardwood trees in .the Ozark Mountains. Cavi ties near the base of the trees . are often found: to contnin gas. When these cavities are cut into l\v the oak tio cutters of the region the gas escapes: with a whistling sound showing it to be under pressure, and if lighted it will burn with a faint yellow flame. The sides of the* cavities containing gas are in all cases darkened, and look as though scared with a hot iron. The popu lar . belief of the :J!district is that those trees nro connceted through, their ■ roots with a subterranean, supply of natural gas, and the land on which they grow is valtied ac cordingly. An examination of the gas collected from ; a cottonwood tree was made hy Professor liush ong, of the University* of Kansas, nnd,il was found to.bo substantially the same as natural gas, with the addition of sonio free hyd...

A Fair Fare.. ~ A young lady from; the ^country, seeing council-owned • trams . for. thq lirst lime, .thought that Ihey ;were provided , free for the citizens to ride.about in. 'The* conductor, a rather handsome .young-fellow,'-' was on top collecting • the fares when the girl - got in the • car, hut on coining down, noticing! an additional passenger, he went' straight -up to her and- said : \ I "Your fare, miss/' | A delicute piuk. manifested itself on her cheeks, a nd she -looked v-down in soft confusion. I The conductor vqntured to remark! again*: i i "Your fare,miss." . &amp;lt; ... ■ This time the pink. durkened into : carnation, and' the maiden fingered i nervously with the^ handle of her' bnkr- . The conductor, began to Jook fool ish,, hut he managed to say 'once more : . ; "Hem, • miss,: your fare/' •- , In a moment, a pair of lovely .vio let eyes were looking up into .his1 face- through > an aurora of blushes, and a pair .of rosy lips exclaimed: "Well, they do say I'...

(Copyright.) ERIC DACRES: A Romantic Story of Adventure during the Matabele War. By William Murray (iraydon, Author of 'Under tho White Terror/* •'In the Name of the Czar/ Etc., Etc. 1 * PART 15. "Of course you don't, hut. 1 do," Shurlock answered, a little sharply. "Tho thing must he done am! over like a /lash, for remember there lire (i rouplo of hundred Kuflirs squatting on the rocks dou'n helotv the opening:, and they'll he after us quick as a wink. I'm hoping those two old scoundrels will show us presently whore the girl is hidden, or that one. of them will come this way to see what is keeping the as sistant priest, and .so give us a chance to finish him quietly. That's why I want to hold off a bit longer." ".And you arc quite right,'" said J'hil. "1 sco now'* "Hush ! No more talking." broke in tho scout. "Keep still, oil of you, and be ready to obey orders when 1 give them." Kric's impatience and suspense were hard to endure, though he knew that waiting might pay in Mie end. j...

Reel for Clothes-line. It is much hotter to muku a small reel, like the one shown, for a clothes-line thnn to "wind the lino on the nrm, the usual method of getting it into shape for putting awny. The reel consists of two » strips of-wood Ifl;. "4iu. long, Sin.! wide, nnd jin. thick. These nro ] - 'Keel for Clothes-line I joined together with two pieces of Uroom handle, allowing a space of Din. between the sides and nn ex-1 tending- handle of 5.-, on opposite! sides, as shown. -11. Lon^nbaugh in | "Popular Alccluinicg.'*

chatteh xxxvi. THE 1U2H1NN1NC? OF TIIK END. | It was six o'clock in the evening, and tho sun's slanting rnys bathed in golden glory the distant hills, the rolling veldt, the patches of hush nml the hit of high ground on which stood Thorntree Kor(. A strong plncc it was, with its two low-roof ed houses occupying the centre of a Ififlgor Hint bristled with barbed wire, disused waggons, felled trees, nnd whatever else would help to form nn impregnable Wall. And impreg nable indeed had the Matnbele war riors found it on more than one occasion during the past weeks. Now, for the second time that day, a scene of unwonted excitement was taking place within the enclosure. Shurloek ami his gallant companions had just arrived with Poris (Jbur ton, and they were relieved to find that Captain (Jordan's party had como safely in three hours earlier. The eager greetings and congratula tions were over, the story of., tho Umlitno's death was told, and .Poris had been carried ofT to tho women's quart...

A Million Gold Watches. — » Switzerland's export of watches in 10:12 reached n total of jusL upon £7,000,000—a record figure for Hie Hepublic, although its trade in timepieces hos been famous for many years. Only some twenty years ago, tho report of the Central Commit tee of the Swiss Chamber of Watch makers for 1012 slates, the total export amounted but, to £3,800,000. Germany is Switzerland's best customer in this particular line, and her purchases last year, roughly speaking, amounted to £1,'105,000. Great Britain comes second on the list with a total of £1,020,000. Then follow Austria and Kussia, with I-'rance lagging behind as tenth with £151,800. No fewer than 1,057,870 gold watches, representing * a vnluo of £2,'120,000 were sent abroad. Sil ver watches were more than twice us numerous—tt,.'M(»,0'-l7 is the exact total—with a, value of £1,573,230. The remainder of the export con sists of finished movements, scpa- , rate pieces, and watch cases. The import of watches amounts t...

UIIAITEn XXXVII. coxcujsrox. The cfToclof .lacobusMynhart's de i duration was tremendous. The.man i himself- was a- visitor from the I grave, .and his-.- appearance at - this I crisis:; was most dramatic. in a i ringing voice lie repeated the charge i as > he threw .himself from the saddle.-.' _ : ir'The revulsion of opinion was in stantaneous. Men shouted and cheer ed, clapped their hands, and tossed hats in - the air. • Tor-.a hi.ief ino ment; a look r of frightful despair gleamed in Fergus Haygarth's«eyes, utul lie glunccd this' wn.v and . that-; as though meditating a dash for es-. cape. Then, .like"'the strong-nerved i scoundrel that he was/ he-accepted | the inevitable. , Tie calmly, submitted | to be seized and held fast, regarding | the circle of angry faces with a dis I dainful smile. . Doris .was sobbing I for jov now, and her fervently-spoken i "Thank . God found ; an. ' echo. • in I'Kric/s heart as he. looked down at iHhc .giiTs* lovely face nestled on his | shoulder....

CiAMIJIVlNG IN A RICWKU. I. j: A well-equipped gambling-den: bo j nealli tho street,' (.Iiu main : entrance f to. which was in u big: city sower, ' lias been >raided-why.-the. I'ittsburg (police. Twenty-two. men: were cap j tured, us "well as a large amount i of money and gambling. parapher nalia. A squall of policemen in_ plain Hollies , were looking for small games," j which .nour ish in the district. : Wlwlv . they passed a manhole they saw a glint ] of light Hash from a hole in the ' grating and then disappear. . tjnietly lifting the inanhole cover, the police, with the aid of several lanterns, dropped down into the sewer, and after proceeding through it. about ' seventy- Ave feet thc.v, came to an opening which led into a large sub terranean room, wliero the players were busy watering their money.

INTERESTING ITEMS. /.When' a Chinese. Kmperor dies the. I intelligence; is announced by . de spatches ^o ■" the .several provinces written 'with blue ink, the mourning i colour. All personsof rank- are re- j quired. to take red silk, ornaments I from their caps *\vilh 'the ball or button of rank • all subjects of China, without- exception, are called upon to forbears-shaving their heads for one hundred -daS'S,. within^ which period none may marry, or play 1 -upon* musical instruments, or per- i form any sacrifice. A remarkable ne\tf "saftV-lock has been invented. " .It is provided* with phonogruphic mechanism,. so that it can be-opened only • by the voice of the owner. " A mouthpiece like that of a telephone takes the place of a knob on the door, and this is provided with the usual stylo or needle, which travels " in a groove in the sound, record' of the phono graph cylinder. Ueforc: the • safe can be unlocked the passwordmust be spoken into the original/cylinder | by the one who mn...

Fashions for Dogs; . , The very newest and most striking sartorial;. eltect for dogs includes a gold necklet, and . a pair of patent leather shoes. Ordinary sweaters have long been, fsishionablc l'or dogs, and some of the small • beasts who suiter, very much from the cold have been seen during the last win ter with two coverings while- out on promenade. The under wrap was a. tight-fitting sweater,"-which extend ed to quite a distance over the ani mal's legs. Over this garment was worn the usual blanket coat, which was formerly considered quite sulli cient as a wrap. -Tho fashionable small dog has al ways , its monogrnmnicri handker chiefs, which are smartly tucked in the pocket of its coat or sweater, lioots to bo worn when it. is al lowed to pluy in tho streets or gar den, and taken off when it enters | the houso, uro also not infrequent ly a featuro of its wardrobe. Motor goggles are considered necessury for some dogs, since, they uro so fond of tho motor-car and suiter as do huma...